PRINTER'S NO. 748
No. 689 Session of 1987
INTRODUCED BY D. R. WRIGHT, MORRIS, BOWLEY, COY, SHOWERS,
HALUSKA, LLOYD, YANDRISEVITS, COHEN, COWELL, BALDWIN,
COLAFELLA, DeLUCA, DAWIDA, GEORGE, JOSEPHS, KUKOVICH, RUDY,
SWEET, F. TAYLOR, TIGUE, TRELLO, VEON, WOGAN, JOHNSON,
ANGSTADT, BOWSER, BUNT, CARLSON, DISTLER, HERMAN, JADLOWIEC,
PHILLIPS, REBER, SERAFINI AND J. L. WRIGHT, MARCH 9, 1987
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS, MARCH 9, 1987
AN ACT
1 Establishing the Center for Rural Pennsylvania; and making an
2 appropriation allocation.
3 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
4 hereby enacts as follows:
5 Section 1. Establishment of center.
6 There is hereby established the Center for Rural
7 Pennsylvania, which shall be an agency of the General Assembly.
8 Section 2. Board of directors.
9 (a) Members.--The Center for Rural Pennsylvania shall be
10 governed by a board of directors which shall consist of 11
11 members. The Speaker of the House of Representatives shall
12 appoint two members from the House of Representatives, one from
13 the majority party and one from the minority party. The
14 President pro tempore of the Senate shall appoint two members
15 from the Senate, one from the majority party and one from the
16 minority party. Two members shall be representatives of
1 universities in the State System of Higher Education. One member
2 shall be from the Pennsylvania State University. One member
3 shall be from the University of Pittsburgh. One member shall be
4 the director of the Northeast Regional Center for Rural
5 Development. The Governor shall appoint two members from the
6 following Statewide organizations: Pennsylvania Rural Electric
7 Association, Pennsylvania Grange Association, Pennsylvania
8 Farmer's Association and Pennsylvania Rural Coalition.
9 (b) Terms.--The term of office of all members of the board
10 shall be two years. Each member shall be eligible to be
11 reappointed to the board.
12 (c) Meetings; quorum.--The board shall meet at least every
13 four months, or as often as it deems necessary. Six members of
14 the board shall constitute a quorum.
15 (d) Expenses.--The members of the board, except for the
16 director of the Center for Rural Pennsylvania, shall serve
17 without salary or compensation, but shall be entitled to such
18 expenses as are reasonable and necessary to the performance of
19 their duties.
20 Section 3. Duties of the center.
21 (a) Principal duty.--The Center for Rural Pennsylvania shall
22 administer grants to conduct research on matters related to
23 rural conditions. The role of the center shall be to facilitate
24 and coordinate basic and applied research and service components
25 for faculty, staff and students of those institutions identified
26 in section 4(a) dealing in issues regarding the welfare of rural
27 Pennsylvania.
28 (b) Regulations.--The board shall promulgate regulations
29 concerning the grant program administered by the Center for
30 Rural Pennsylvania.
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1 Section 4. Grants.
2 (a) Eligibility.--Grants shall be available only to the
3 qualified faculty members of the various colleges and university
4 members of the State System of Higher Education and the current
5 land grant university.
6 (b) Amounts.--No grant shall exceed the sum of $50,000.
7 (c) Subjects.--The subject areas of the grant program are as
8 follows:
9 (1) Rural people and communities.
10 (2) Economic development.
11 (3) Local government finance and administration.
12 (4) Community services.
13 (5) Natural resources and environment.
14 (6) Educational outreach.
15 (7) Rural values and social change.
16 Section 5. Administrative matters.
17 (a) Director.--The Center for Rural Pennsylvania shall be
18 operated by a director, who shall be selected by the board.
19 (b) Duties of director.--The director shall employ such
20 persons as he or she deems appropriate for the administration of
21 the grant programs authorized by this act. The director shall
22 also make such other expenditures as the board deems necessary,
23 providing that not more than 15% of the allocation in section 7
24 shall be used for administrative expenses.
25 Section 6. Data base.
26 (a) Creation.--The Center for Rural Pennsylvania shall
27 develop and maintain an appropriate base of knowledge and
28 information about rural conditions and needs. This shall be
29 accomplished through a data base.
30 (b) Major areas.--The data base shall include the following
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1 major areas of concern:
2 (1) Agriculture.
3 (2) Economic development.
4 (3) Local government capacity and fiscal stress
5 indicators.
6 (4) Transportation.
7 (5) Sociodemographics.
8 (6) Health care and human services.
9 (7) Environment and natural resources.
10 (8) Education.
11 (9) Condition of the extant local infrastructure of
12 Pennsylvania's rural communities.
13 (c) Arrangement.--The data will be arranged in such a manner
14 so as to facilitate the monitoring of relationships between and
15 among the various sectors identified for inclusion in the
16 information system.
17 Section 7. Allocation.
18 The sum of $700,000 is hereby allocated from the $2,750,000
19 appropriation to the Department of Commerce for Rural Economic
20 Development in section 208 of the act of July 1, 1986 (P.L. ,
21 No.5A), known as the General Appropriation Act of 1986, for the
22 fiscal year July 1, 1986, to June 30, 1987, to the Center for
23 Rural Pennsylvania to carry out the provisions of this act. Two
24 hundred thousand dollars out of the $700,000 shall be used to
25 create a data base for rural Pennsylvania.
26 Section 8. Effective date.
27 This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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